The poetry thread

[Aqua Letifer]

Traveling for the Easter holiday and for some weird and crazy reason, this poem got in my head instead of thoughts of spring flowers.

So, on I went. I think I never saw
Such starv’d ignoble nature; nothing throve:
For flowers—as well expect a cedar grove!
But cockle, spurge, according to their law
Might propagate their kind, with none to awe,
You ’d think; a burr had been a treasure trove.

—Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

[Catseye3]

@Aqua-Letifer said in The poetry thread:

You ’d think; a burr had been a treasure trove.

I'm like, "Okay, that's pretty good; maybe a little labored . . .

Oh wait, Browning??? I take it back, it's way good. Perfect.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Catseye3 said in The poetry thread:

@Aqua-Letifer said in The poetry thread:

You ’d think; a burr had been a treasure trove.

I'm like, "Good one; maybe a little labored . . .

Oh wait, Browning??? I take it back, it's way good. Perfect.

I'd say this is probably his densest poem. So it's challenging, even for Browning.

[Rainman]

@Aqua-Letifer said in The poetry thread:

Traveling for the Easter holiday and for some weird and crazy reason, this poem got in my head instead of thoughts of spring flowers.

So, on I went. I think I never saw
Such starv’d ignoble nature; nothing throve:
For flowers—as well expect a cedar grove!
But cockle, spurge, according to their law
Might propagate their kind, with none to awe,
You ’d think; a burr had been a treasure trove.

—Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

So Aqua, what's wrong with me?
I read the same poem.
I read it again. And again.
And I think I kind of get a sense of what it's about.
But I'm probably wrong.
So, that's frustrating.
How is it that you love it, and I find it completely frustrating.
Not enjoyable.

[Doctor Phibes]

Here I sit
Broken hearted
Spent a penny
And only farted

[Mik]

[Aqua Letifer]

@Rainman said in The poetry thread:

@Aqua-Letifer said in The poetry thread:

Traveling for the Easter holiday and for some weird and crazy reason, this poem got in my head instead of thoughts of spring flowers.

So, on I went. I think I never saw
Such starv’d ignoble nature; nothing throve:
For flowers—as well expect a cedar grove!
But cockle, spurge, according to their law
Might propagate their kind, with none to awe,
You ’d think; a burr had been a treasure trove.

—Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

So Aqua, what's wrong with me?
I read the same poem.
I read it again. And again.
And I think I kind of get a sense of what it's about.
But I'm probably wrong.
So, that's frustrating.
How is it that you love it, and I find it completely frustrating.
Not enjoyable.

There's nothing wrong with you.

1. Most people consume art for a distraction or entertainment. When those people come across work that isn't that, they don't like it. Could be that.
2. Poetry might not be your thing. Not everyone's into beekeeping, either. Totally fine.

[Mik]

Algebra. My mind refuses to entertain the notion.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Mik said in The poetry thread:

Algebra. My mind refuses to entertain the notion.

Musicals.

Just. Not. My. Thing.

[Mik]

@Aqua-Letifer said in The poetry thread:

@Mik said in The poetry thread:

Algebra. My mind refuses to entertain the notion.

Musicals.

Just. Not. My. Thing.

Silence! I keel you!

[Mik]

[Aqua Letifer]

Excellent.

[Doctor Phibes]

That reminds me vaguely of one of Spike Milligan's creations:

Granny

Through every nook and every cranny
The wind blew in on poor old Granny
Around her knees, into each ear
(And up her nose as well, I fear)

All through the night the wind grew worse
It nearly made the vicar curse
The top had fallen off the steeple
Just missing him (and other people)

It blew on man, it blew on beast
It blew on nun, it blew on priest
It blew the wig off Auntie Fanny-
But most of all, it blew on Granny!

[Mik]

@Aqua-Letifer said in The poetry thread:

Excellent.

I thought so too. It elevated itself above the subject matter.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Mik said in The poetry thread:

@Aqua-Letifer said in The poetry thread:

Excellent.

I thought so too. It elevated itself above the subject matter.

Inside baseball:

A most curious medley,
A fart can be harmless,
Or silent and deadly.

You're writing a poem about farts—absolutely guaranteed you're going to mention SBDs. But it's not fun to just mention them, it's far more satisfying for the known cliché to complete a couplet. So what's the lead-in?

This kind of initial setup and resolution is common in poetry—poems are rarely written linearly—but a lot of folks who dabble don't think to do it.

This was written by someone who on some level knew what they were doing.

(I'd have removed "strange" but that's me.)

[Aqua Letifer]

@Doctor-Phibes said in The poetry thread:

That reminds me vaguely of one of Spike Milligan's creations:

Granny

Through every nook and every cranny
The wind blew in on poor old Granny
Around her knees, into each ear
(And up her nose as well, I fear)

All through the night the wind grew worse
It nearly made the vicar curse
The top had fallen off the steeple
Just missing him (and other people)

It blew on man, it blew on beast
It blew on nun, it blew on priest
It blew the wig off Auntie Fanny-
But most of all, it blew on Granny!

Spike's the man.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Aqua-Letifer said in The poetry thread:

Spike's the man.

He really is. Probably one of the most influential people of the 20th century, if we but knew it.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Doctor-Phibes said in The poetry thread:

@Aqua-Letifer said in The poetry thread:

Spike's the man.

He really is. Probably one of the most influential people of the 20th century, if we but knew it.

I think I mentioned this before but there's a small town in Oz basically dedicated to him via place names. It's a cool place to walk around.

[Aqua Letifer]

Heroes

My heroes never chased careers
Or wanted to be paid
And neither cops nor engineers
Inspired what I've made.

My heroes played with wands and rings
And secrets time forgot
And through the years they taught me things
Reality could not

-written by me during an all-staff meeting. It looked like I was taking notes, so, that's good I suppose.

[Rainman]

Nice, Aqua!
Thank You.